The Razer Phone 2 was announced a few months ago here at EFTM and I had my hands on it nice and early. Early impressions were fantastic and I promised a full review, have a read;

The good

  • Unbelievable speaker quality.
  • Very bright, HDR, 120Hz screen.
  • Perfect for the entertainment nerd.

The bad

  • Fingerprint sensor is frustrating at best.

The verdict

The Razer Phone 2 is exclusively appropriate for the gamer/entertainment nerd that isn’t ashamed to be identified as one. It’s big, it’s bold and it’s loud. While you could argue this phone is flawed as it really won’t appeal to anyone outside of this niche, you could equally argue that’s what makes it so perfect. Leave the business to Razer, the phone isn’t for everyone and they’re very aware of that.

AESTHETIC

Elegantly dated. Before I try and explain that further just take a quick look at generally speaking how the Razer 2 looks;

It’s almost identical the original Razer phone which itself was very rigid. The rectangular design is necessary in order to fit the huge speakers in, but does make the phone look very geeky. In saying that, the owner of a Razer phone isn’t trying to be discrete about either being a nerd or caring for entertainment. So working off that basis – it definitely lands it’s target market.

The all glass back lends itself to a lot of fingerprints and the pop-out style of the camera has me seriously concerned about scratches. I’ve found myself leaning the Razer 2 against my wallet or on a piece of paper to avoid damage. The front-facing camera and charging ports are integrated nicely, sticking to the very industrial overall theme.

Strictly from an aesthetic standpoint, the Razer logo and side mounted fingerprint sensor do an exceptional job of building the style. However they are both incredibly useless and frustrating features…

FUNCTIONALITY

Explicitly targeted. By that I mean the Razer Phone 2 is PERFECT for it’s target market. As you know it has enormous front facing speakers, a super bright screen and sits well in two hands if you were to watch a movie/play a game. But that’s really the extent of it’s sale point. Let me expand on the benefits for the entertainment nerd that wants the best.

The speakers on the Razer Phone 2 are mind-blowing. They’re powered by Dolby Atmos and I truly can’t do it justice with words. It’s surprising not only the volume that they can produce, but the ability for the phone to produce VERY directional sound. Nothing does a better job than the Atmos demo video, but these surround sound features were real nice on some YouTube and Netflix videos. I wish I could write more here, truly the quality is phenomenal but there’s only so much that can be said beyond “You really need to try it out”.

For the mobile gaming geek, especially those of us that are accustomed to playing around with computer hardware – the Razer Phone 2 has ‘tweak-able hardware’. Through what they’re calling the Razer ‘Cortex’, you’re able to optimize your hardware settings based on what each game requires. Not that you’ll have any problems as the Razer 2 is decked out with 8GB of RAM and a Snapdragon 845 processor. Special mention to the wireless charging enabled 4000 mAh battery.

One of the biggest selling points for the Razer Phone 2 is that the screen is 120Hz. I’ve been over this before but simply put, the screen refreshes twice as often as a standard 60Hz phone screen, making it significantly smoother when playing fast-paced games. The 5.7″ screen is also really nice and bright, built with HDR support.

The side-mounted fingerprint sensor is probably my biggest opposition to this phone. I found it incredibly hard to get used to and despite changing phones every other week, struggled to get comfortable with. The rubbish positioning means you often need to either re-adjust your thumb a couple of times before getting access, or be a wizard. There’s no third option.

Ultimately the performance and functionality of the Razer Phone 2 is exceptional. While it’s explicitly only useful for the niche target market, it does a wonderful job at satisfying that niche.

MISC

A few very quick notes on the Razer Phone 2 include;

  • Ip67 water resistance.
  • Built-in Nova Launcher – which is awesome for Android nerds.
  • Comes in glass back or satin back – heavily recommend satin as smudges are gross.
  • Comes with pre-installed games which is actually kind of nice.

You can buy the Razer Phone 2 exclusively at Optus! An interesting deal for both of these companies, with Optus claiming that “(they are) moving into a new and exciting esports market as the exclusive Australian carrier of the amazing new Razer Phone 2“. Pick one up online or in-store for $1,248 or on one of their plans.